Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Texas Bullet Trains May Cut Off Texas Milk Supply

Today we have the reverse of our popular series of bloggings about something I read in a west coast online news source which I would not expect to see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Today it is something in the Star-Telegram I would not expect to see in a west coast online news source, such as the Seattle Times.

What you see here was on the Star-Telegram's front page this morning.

For those reading this who are outside the Texas news orbit, there is a proposal afoot to make a high speed bullet train connection between Dallas and Houston.

Bullet trains exist in various advanced countries, such as France, Japan and China.

I suspect France, Japan and China have dairy cows, with some dairy farms close to train tracks.

Are Texas cows known to be easily frightened as opposed to more courageous cows in other countries?

There is some opposition to the bullet train in Texas plan. Are the opposition's arguments so weak that they are claiming a possibly dried up milk supply as a reason not to lay track through rural areas?

I would think there would be a lot better arguments against the Texas bullet train proposal.

Such as would there really be enough riders to make the train economically feasible?

The countries which already have bullet trains have elaborate train networks connecting to the bullet trains. Both Dallas and Houston have areas of their towns served by light rail. I suppose one might be able to exclusively use rail to get to your final destination.

I have only taken a long train ride once. Amtrak from Tacoma to Portland for a long weekend. The train was a rockier ride than the ferry crossing from Keystone to Port Townsend during a big tide change. Meaning it was almost impossible to walk on the train. And using the restroom facility became a treacherous balancing act.

By the time I got to Portland I was what amounted to being seasick for the first and only time ever. This was made worse when the lady who picked us up at the train station turned out to be a driving maniac. I remained seasick and head achy the entire weekend.

Since that train ride from hell, back in the last century, the track has been upgraded and a new faster train has replaced the thing which sea-sicked me. I have been told the ride is now smooth.

There is a California high speed train proposal to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. I think that may be further along than the Texas train. I wonder if the California's know about the possible danger to their milk supply?

Anyway, I think the Texas milk supply is safe. I doubt we really are going to be seeing bullet trains speeding at this location on the planet any time soon.